Everyman in His Humour

Ben Jonson's Everyman in His Humour was first produced in 1598 by Shakespeare's company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. It is Jonson's first important play and is also the first play to be labeled a "comedy of humours." Humours were bodily fluids that were believed to control a person's temperament. If an individual had too much of any one humour, he would exhibit that characteristic to excess. In the play, Jonson emphasizes these "humours" and achieves his comic effect by exaggerating each character's quirks, almost to the point of caricature. The play was extremely popular and raised Jonson to the position of a celebrity. Because of its popularity, other playwrights also began to copy the style. Everyman in His Humour was originally published in 1601, and a revised version appeared as one of the plays in Jonson's folio of 1616.